mick silver
27th April 2016, 05:53 PM
Could Facebook manipulate the presidential election?Posted on April 18, 2016April 18, 2016 (http://personalliberty.com/could-facebook-manipulate-the-presidential-election/) by Sam Rolley (http://personalliberty.com/author/samrolleypl/) Views: 1,322
649 Shares [/URL] (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?s=100&p[url]=http://personalliberty.com/could-facebook-manipulate-the-presidential-election/&[images][0]={img}&[title]=Could+Facebook+manipulate+the+presidential+electi on%3F&[summary]=Facebook+was+forced+to+issue+a+statement+last+wee k+denying+that+it+would+attempt+to+alter+political +outcomes+after+many+of+its+employees+pondered+whe ther+they+have+a+responsibility+to+prevent+Donald+ Trump+from+becoming+president.+)[URL="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpersonalliberty.com%2Fcould-facebook-manipulate-the-presidential-election%2F&media=https://plnami.blob.core.windows.net/media/2016/04/LcKdd9Kki.jpeg&description=Facebook+was+forced+to+issue+a+stateme nt+last+week+denying+that+it+would+attempt+to+alte r+political+outcomes+after+many+of+its+employees+p ondered+whether+they+have+a+responsibility+to+prev ent+Donald+Trump+from+becoming+president.+"] (http://plus.google.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpersonalliberty.com%2Fcould-facebook-manipulate-the-presidential-election%2F)
https://plnami.blob.core.windows.net/media/2016/04/LcKdd9Kki-800x500.jpegFacebook was forced to issue a statement last week denying that it would attempt to alter political outcomes after many of its employees pondered whether they have a responsibility to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president.
The tech website Gizmodo caused a stir last week when it reported on internal employee polling at Facebook which included the question: “What responsibility does Facebook have to help prevent President Trump in 2017?”
The polling took place in early March.
Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a swipe at Trump’s policies at the company’s decidedly unpolitical F8 developer conference.
“As I look around the world, I’m starting to see people and nations turning inward, against the idea of a connected world and a global community,” Zuckerberg said.
“I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing people they label as ‘others.’ I hear them calling for blocking free expression, for slowing immigration, for reducing trade, and in some cases even for cutting access to the internet,” he said.
Though he didn’t call Trump out by name, Zuckerberg’s comment along with the Facebook employee poll has created some speculation that the social media giant could quietly censor candidates and ideas in an effort to change political outcomes.
As Gizmodo explained:
If Facebook decided to, it could gradually remove any pro-Trump stories or media off its site—devastating for a campaign that runs on memes and publicity. Facebook wouldn’t have to disclose it was doing this, and would be protected by the First Amendment.
And it wouldn’t be the first time the social media company tried to influence the political process with its vast reach.
Mother Jones reported in 2014:
Facebook has studied how changes in the news feed seen by its users—the constant drip-drip-drip of information shared by friends that is heart of their Facebook experience—can affect their level of interest in politics and their likelihood of voting. For one such experiment, conducted in the three months prior to Election Day in 2012, Facebook increased the amount of hard news stories at the top of the feeds of 1.9 million users. According to one Facebook data scientist, that change—which users were not alerted to—measurably increased civic engagement and voter turnout.
Facebook officials insist there’s nothing untoward going on. But for several years, the company has been reluctant to answer questions about its voter promotion efforts and these research experiments.
Facebook examined the political leanings of more than 61 million people in that experiment. The social media company has secretly tampered with news feeds in the past and once even deliberately toyed with user emotions.
A spokesman for the company denied that Facebook is meddling in the current political season, saying: “We encourage any and all candidates, groups, and voters to use our platform to share their views on the election and debate the issues.”
“We as a company are neutral — we have not and will not use our products in a way that attempts to influence how people vote.”
Whether that’s true or not doesn’t matter. Just let this all be another reminder that propaganda in its subtlest forms can exist anywhere.
This entry was posted in Election Informer (http://personalliberty.com/category/election-informer/). Bookmark the permalink (http://personalliberty.com/could-facebook-manipulate-the-presidential-election/).
649 Shares [/URL] (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?s=100&p[url]=http://personalliberty.com/could-facebook-manipulate-the-presidential-election/&[images][0]={img}&[title]=Could+Facebook+manipulate+the+presidential+electi on%3F&[summary]=Facebook+was+forced+to+issue+a+statement+last+wee k+denying+that+it+would+attempt+to+alter+political +outcomes+after+many+of+its+employees+pondered+whe ther+they+have+a+responsibility+to+prevent+Donald+ Trump+from+becoming+president.+)[URL="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpersonalliberty.com%2Fcould-facebook-manipulate-the-presidential-election%2F&media=https://plnami.blob.core.windows.net/media/2016/04/LcKdd9Kki.jpeg&description=Facebook+was+forced+to+issue+a+stateme nt+last+week+denying+that+it+would+attempt+to+alte r+political+outcomes+after+many+of+its+employees+p ondered+whether+they+have+a+responsibility+to+prev ent+Donald+Trump+from+becoming+president.+"] (http://plus.google.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpersonalliberty.com%2Fcould-facebook-manipulate-the-presidential-election%2F)
https://plnami.blob.core.windows.net/media/2016/04/LcKdd9Kki-800x500.jpegFacebook was forced to issue a statement last week denying that it would attempt to alter political outcomes after many of its employees pondered whether they have a responsibility to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president.
The tech website Gizmodo caused a stir last week when it reported on internal employee polling at Facebook which included the question: “What responsibility does Facebook have to help prevent President Trump in 2017?”
The polling took place in early March.
Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a swipe at Trump’s policies at the company’s decidedly unpolitical F8 developer conference.
“As I look around the world, I’m starting to see people and nations turning inward, against the idea of a connected world and a global community,” Zuckerberg said.
“I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing people they label as ‘others.’ I hear them calling for blocking free expression, for slowing immigration, for reducing trade, and in some cases even for cutting access to the internet,” he said.
Though he didn’t call Trump out by name, Zuckerberg’s comment along with the Facebook employee poll has created some speculation that the social media giant could quietly censor candidates and ideas in an effort to change political outcomes.
As Gizmodo explained:
If Facebook decided to, it could gradually remove any pro-Trump stories or media off its site—devastating for a campaign that runs on memes and publicity. Facebook wouldn’t have to disclose it was doing this, and would be protected by the First Amendment.
And it wouldn’t be the first time the social media company tried to influence the political process with its vast reach.
Mother Jones reported in 2014:
Facebook has studied how changes in the news feed seen by its users—the constant drip-drip-drip of information shared by friends that is heart of their Facebook experience—can affect their level of interest in politics and their likelihood of voting. For one such experiment, conducted in the three months prior to Election Day in 2012, Facebook increased the amount of hard news stories at the top of the feeds of 1.9 million users. According to one Facebook data scientist, that change—which users were not alerted to—measurably increased civic engagement and voter turnout.
Facebook officials insist there’s nothing untoward going on. But for several years, the company has been reluctant to answer questions about its voter promotion efforts and these research experiments.
Facebook examined the political leanings of more than 61 million people in that experiment. The social media company has secretly tampered with news feeds in the past and once even deliberately toyed with user emotions.
A spokesman for the company denied that Facebook is meddling in the current political season, saying: “We encourage any and all candidates, groups, and voters to use our platform to share their views on the election and debate the issues.”
“We as a company are neutral — we have not and will not use our products in a way that attempts to influence how people vote.”
Whether that’s true or not doesn’t matter. Just let this all be another reminder that propaganda in its subtlest forms can exist anywhere.
This entry was posted in Election Informer (http://personalliberty.com/category/election-informer/). Bookmark the permalink (http://personalliberty.com/could-facebook-manipulate-the-presidential-election/).